


(Don't) Stand So Close

by PaintedYertle



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: AFTG Summer Exchange 2019, Arguments, Awkward Dates, F/M, M/M, hand holding, mentions of Robin Cross, twinyards
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-06 11:23:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20290651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaintedYertle/pseuds/PaintedYertle
Summary: For the AFTGexchange "A cute/awkward peek into Katelyn/Aaron, after their relationship is made public - teased by Vixens, experimental PDA, running into Andrew and Neil while both couples are on a date" With some angsty Twinyards thrown in for good measure.





	(Don't) Stand So Close

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ApprenticedMagician](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ApprenticedMagician/gifts).

Sometimes when Aaron stepped into Katelyn’s dorm, it was akin to entering a separate universe. Perhaps it would be different the moment he stepped outside the room, but when he was in it things were…in order. Civilized. It felt pleasant and calming. That spark didn’t die down once he was “allowed” to enter his now-official girlfriend’s dorm whenever he wanted.

According to Katelyn it isn’t like that when Aaron isn’t around. Allegedly there’s a great amount of “drama” and quarrels among the cheerleaders. Maybe it was the fact that their conflicts didn’t match up to the worldwide, traumatizing, mob-being-sicked-on-them murder drama that seemingly happened in Aaron’s dorm seemingly every time a remote control got lost in the cushions, but he still felt calm. If anything, now that he could stay the morning after, it was less rushed. But that also meant slower, lingering touches. Fingers on his skin as delicate and careful as a scalpel. Aaron wasn’t used to it yet.

But now summer’s here. Katelyn’s on vacation and away from school. Her dorm is locked, stripped, and empty. Aaron never knew he could be homesick for a person before.

It also meant a return to the sports culture. From fingers through ponytails to textbooks to requiring a helmet. From makeup on dressers to mitochondria is the powerhouse of a cell to getting checked on a wall. It was jarring enough to cause Aaron to blink and go _Wait, what was I doing before?_

But Aaron is still engaged in it. He has to if he wants to keep his scholarship, but the last thing anyone can call the foxes is boring. There are pros and cons to the foxes gaining respect from the world. On one hand, they get more than one Freshie Fox this year. On the other, most of them are assholes who thrive on stirring up drama. Shanna is writing crude messages on Dan’s photos. Every time Neil tells them to get their head in the game they sing the High School Musical soundtrack at him. Jack has kicked a leg off a table. It’s wild.

Aaron what with already having a legal trial scheduled for later that year, it would be best to not to be involved. But the new recruits who piqued his interest the most was the newly minted Monster. It was a girl with ended up in his former dorm room with Andrew, Neil, and Kevin. She wasn’t assigned to them. This was something Andrew specifically approved of. He was the one who had picked her for the foxes in the first place.

The dorm building was co-ed, of course, and Aaron had slept in rooms shared by all of the foxes before, but the rooms themselves never were. Aaron could consider no other explanation that she had to be in a relationship with at least one of them, and since Kevin was in a not-so-secret relationship with a professional female player, that didn’t leave many options.

Aaron doesn’t know why the only time Andrew will interact with a woman their age is if they’re one of the goalies, especially regarding how he treated Aaron’s girlfriends in high school, but it was the best Aaron could hope for. Despite the fact that Neil (fucking) Josten is still practically attached to Andrew like a tick. Despite the fact that they by this point have assigned seating next to each other on the bus. Despite the fact that he hears they’re sharing a bed now.

But Aaron has had exes before, ones that he thought he was was enamored with at the time and got over quickly. Before Andrew was around to butt into his relationships without his permission, the burning passion would just turn into just plain burning. The last thing he wants to see is to watch Andrew burn, but it usually only takes one burn to keep you away from dangerous things. So Aaron’s giving it time.

During practice, Neil was too busy co-captaining to be near Andrew much, but there are times when Aaron catches him watching.

When they’re in the locker room they’re a closer distance than Aaron has ever seen Andrew allow. It looks like almost “nothing” to outside eyes, but . Once Neil got stuck in his shirt so Andrew helped him out of it without needing to be asked.

Years. Years of being stuck under a roof with unsuccessful attempts to forge a lasting bond with his brother, and this house bunny that’s just learning how phone calls work does it in less than one.

That gave Aaron the misconception he could navigate around Andrew to get to his locker. He got rewarded by Andrew’s back pushing him into the lockers when Aaron’s back brushed against his for a moment. It wasn’t any rougher than what they experience on court but he still had to brace himself on the lockers. Aaron looked at Andrew, and Andrew had already turned to look back. He wasn’t wearing anything over the waist other than his armbands and hair was wet, so he must have just gotten out of the shower. His expression was as unreadable as usual, but by now Aaron knew he usually made it clear when he intends physical force.

“You know better than to get behind me.” Andrew said.

“I told you, I’m not psychic.”

Andrew squinted at him. Maybe it was Aaron projecting, but as Andrew put on his umpteenth black t-shirt before walking out, he might have seen an apology in his eyes.

It wouldn’t be long before Katelyn would return to school. As with every usual emotion Aaron had, he buried it deep with in chest, but he still wasn’t used to those emotions being positive ones.

When he met up with Katelyn at the airport, he was silently grateful she didn’t try to hug him right away. Then on the way to the car, she brushed over her fingers over his hand. He flinched away at first, since he registered the touch before what she was doing, then almost returned the touch.

Almost, because Nicky was the one borrowing the car. If the two were holding hands in the way back to the car, it would be the only point of conversation until they got back to the college. Andrew only lets three people drive his car: himself, Nicky, and Neil (goddamn) Josten. Nicky and Katelyn chatted about their time off from school while Aaron made no comment.

Aaron helped Katelyn unpack her stuff into her dorm. Her roommates insisted he do all the heavy lifting, referring to him as “the muscle” despite the fact he was shorter than all of them and the girls didn’t look like strangers to the weight room. He’s not used to being the center of attention, let alone by a group of attractive girls.

After setting up the room, Katelyn mentioned she needed to pick up some supplies from the store. Aaron had zero idea of why she was asking only him to tagalong with her and not her roommates, but he didn’t mind. It was a shorter distance from campus to the store, so there was no need to ask for a ride.

Katelyn reached for his hand again on the way there. She lightly grazed over the back of his hand, as if a request for permission. He gripped back. By the time they were in the hardware section at the store they were arm-in-arm.

That lasted until they reached the kitchen and dining section. Katelyn was eying a mixing bowl with flowers on it, when she halted in place. Her chatting also trailed off, which was even more unusual for her. She was one of the few people he didn’t mind listen to chatter. Katelyn was just steering the two of them back around to the rugs and curtains on display when Aaron looked back. He spotted Andrew browsing around the kitchen appliances.

Aaron stopped where he was and, since they were currently hooked together, Katelyn stopped too.

“Do you need that?” Aaron asked her.

Katelyn opened her mouth but didn’t say anything. Aaron was hoping for a nod, but instead she shrugged. He hadn’t gotten too many details over what Andrew did or said when he agreed to back off, but Katelyn didn’t talk about it much and Aaron didn’t need to press for details. But that response was good enough for him. He left Katelyn someplace nearby but out of view and unhooked from her.

When Aaron approached again, he saw that Andrew wasn’t alone. By now Aaron at least knew the basics of interacting with his brother, but Neil (rat bastard) Josten was still a different animal entirely. And like usual he was wishing the two wasn’t standing so close beside each other.

“Are we in desperate need for a baking tray?” Neil asked Andrew.

“Not unless you want to add ‘meth lab’ to your newly clean criminal record.” Andrew replied.

“You like sweets but you can’t bother to stick them in the oven for a few minutes?”

“I could, if you want Fox Tower to burn down.”

“That’s so-”

Andrew was the first to notice Aaron standing there, despite the fact his back was turned to him. And the fact that there was a larger distance between Andrew and Aaron than Andrew and Neil. Rather, there was almost a lack of distance between those two, as if they weren’t even doing it intentionally.

“Do you need something?” Andrew asked. His face was still solemn even after months of no medication. Aaron wasn’t certain if he preferred that to the tortured smile, but a carnal part in his brain was unnerved by the lack of emotion it was detecting.

“Well, if I’m not interrupting your little date.” Aaron said.

Neil rolled his eyes and took a step towards Aaron. “Really? What kind of a date is just walking around a store?”

Aaron didn’t miss the small flick of the eyes Andrew gave Neil behind his back, right before focusing right back on Aaron.

“I’m just here to grab something.” Aaron said. He gestured to the shelf behind The couple two glanced at one another, then moved out of the way. Aaron leaned forward to grab the bowl covered in flowers.

“I doubt that’s for you.” Andrew said.

“I doubt that’s any of your business.” Aaron said.

“Oh snap.” Neil said sarcastically.

Aaron squinted at Neil. He would have done that regardless of the ‘oh snap’. Then he left them behind.

Katelyn was still wanting where Aaron left her, genuinely admiring the patterns on a few of the smaller rugs. She grinned and thanked him when she saw him. It was nice.

Afterwards they headed over to the mall. While there, they were on line for pretzels, and Katelyn laid her chin playfully on top of Aaron’s head. Katelyn’s roommates find it attractive that Aaron isn’t the type of guy to “jump all over” her. Aaron just considers it pathetic. It’s sad to flinch at bigger women touching you when you’re shorter than practically everyone. He didn’t think it would be long until Katelyn questioned him, but she hasn’t done that yet.

It was then he realized that this was a date. He had been on dates before, of course, but not recently. He also imagined them in restaurants and powered by money. He recalled what Neil (bastard) Josten said before about walking around a store and promptly dropkicked that out of his mind.

In a way it made a strange amount of sense to Aaron that he would fall for someone chatty and bubbly, in an opposites attract type of way. Meanwhile his brother fell for became attracted to a guy who looked like he emerged from the the woods after a fistfight with a Forest Cryptid and lost, yet somehow still survived.

When practice happened again, seeing Andrew so close to Neil wasn’t lowering Aaron’s expectations. Apparently Neil convinced Andrew not to pull another “test” on their newest roommate. The girl in their dorm, Robin, was a quiet child who didn’t bother anyone. But knowing foxes like Renee, he knew she shouldn’t be underestimated.

It was quiet in the car on their way to Betsy’s, like always. He didn’t want to “talk it out” about running into the brother who lives right down the hall from him at the store. She was already well-aware of the terse relationship, to put it lightly, that Andrew had with Katelyn, so to Aaron there was nothing to go over.

Andrew was driving, also like always. They one thing slightly different was they left earlier to grab coffee. The two ordered and paid separately. Aaron didn’t miss that Andrew purchased two cookies, and while Aaron wouldn’t doubt but Andrew’s eating habits they were both for himself, the thought of him sharing with someone else still got to him.

They arrived in the parking lot with minutes to spare. Despite that, Andrew was eying his cigarettes in the cupholder.

“We’re going to be late if you wait.” Aaron said.

“The therapy is free.” Andrew said.

Aaron knew he could walk in to talk to Bee first and then wait for Andrew, but like a true sibling, compromise was never easy for either of them.

“And are you still going to do this when it isn’t?”

Andrew looked away from his cigarette pack and back at Aaron with tired, dulled eyes.

“I’ll become a trophy wife,” Andrew said, “Kevin tells me that’s a lasting career in the mob business.”

Aaron buried his face into the fabric of his shirt and groaned into it.

“Kevin’s far from the only one who gets fed up with you.” Aaron said.

“I’ve noticed.”

“Well if you’ve noticed it so much then maybe I’m starting to think you do it on purpose. Why else would you treat everything like it’s nothing?”

“Nothing?” Andrew repeated, mostly to himself.

“You hurt people like it’s nothing, sleep with Roland and Neil like it’s nothing, then get close with girls and invite them to live in your dorm like it’s nothing, then go rabid if a single one of them gets close to you. Like it’s nothing!”

“Your tuition was practically free. What are you going to do about that when it isn’t?”

Aaron knew full well Andrew was currently misdirecting, but the scholarship Andrew lent to Aaron was something asking to be discussed. Aaron’s goal was to get into medical school, and that would require him being in school longer than Andrew and longer than when the money from the scholarship would run out, even if Andrew decided to become a professional player. It was something they needed to talk about, if they didn’t have so much difficulty talking in the first place.

“Are you talking about Robin?” Andrew asked, “You think I have an attraction to Robin?”

“You invited her in your room.” Aaron said.

Andrew glanced away from Aaron as if the thought was too nonsensical to hear. Then he looked somewhere else in the middle distance as if there were some troublesome imp or reality show host was hiding in the glove compartment to laugh at the situation he’s ended up in. Like he was attempting to look at the equation Aaron made up to get to such a wrong answer.

“I truly, honestly, don’t know what to tell you. You asked Nicky not to flaunt his sexuality in your face and yet this is not obvious enough for you? Do I need to steal Nicky’s ‘_Get This Straight: I’m Not_’ t-shirt?”

“What else was I supposed to think? If I did the same with Katelyn in her freshman year without a word I’d never hear the end of it from you.”

Andrew focused his eyes back at Aaron’s face. “You not only accuse me of being attracted to women, you think I’m cradle robbing?”

“What are you talking about? Neil’s younger than you too.”

“By one year.”

“Robin’s two years!”

“Robin is a baby bird finding her way back to a nest. I have no interest in that.”

Aaron almost argued that Robin is not only over eighteen but how Andrew is misdirecting again with his obsession with animal analogies.

“Then why allow a girl to live in your dorm?”

Andrew shot Aaron a long, dull expression. “She made the request.”

Aaron wasn’t sure if he meant the room request or that she specifically talked to Andrew about it. For a goalie, he was dodging straight answers left and right. And if he could Aaron could too.

“You think he isn’t getting close to you just to manipulate you?” Aaron said, “You don’t think that’s an insult to me?”

Andrew continued to look tired. “Wow, what an upstanding way to talk about a team captain. I can tell you care about that scholarship. And ‘to you’? Haven’t we established-”

“I’ve known you longer than him,” Aaron said, “And even that redheaded floozy wasn’t draping himself all over you, and you push me away? Am I supposed to be like you and either break it off or not care?”

“Neil’s hair is auburn.” Aaron didn’t mention Andrew deflected the former, “Am I understanding correctly? You wish to make…physical contact with me?”

Aaron was annoyed with the way Andrew worded most things. He was even more annoyed that a statement like that sounded like something Betsy would say to get an answer out of one of the twins.

“I want it to be enough that it won’t be a problem.” Aaron said, “So you’ll be, I dunno, at least used to me? Even by now?”

Andrew paused. That maybe even he didn’t notice how close he was getting to Neil, that they had locked themselves in an orbit outside of either of their control. Aaron was beginning to feel that way, even with Katelyn.

“When your in the passenger seat of a car, you don’t bother the driver, yes?” Andrew said, “That’s not a thing which needs to be asked for or explained to you? It’s just something you do. And when you don’t there are consequences. Is that actually so difficult for you, aspiring medical student, to understand?”

_Is that what you said to mom?_ Aaron thought, but knew it was best not to say.

“Fine,” Andrew said, then held out an arm, “If I agree will you quit being such a touch-starved baby?”

Aaron thought “_Will_ you_?” _but that thankfully didn’t reach his mouth either. He held out a hand. Andrew pulled back his arm.

“Not on the armband,” he said, “and not on the shoulder either. Only in the middle.”

“Why do you have so many rules?”

“Why don’t you?”

Aaron didn’t answer. The truth was he had boundaries, but he had yet to officially set up or enforce any rules for them. Andrew held his arm out again. Aaron stared at the sliver of exposed skin mostly made up of elbow. The skin was pale compared to the black armband and t-shirt, but given how he knew his brother that may be slightly less pale than the parts he rarely shows willingly.

“Alright.” Aaron said after a moment passed. Andrew drew out an index finger and cautiously touched the skin as if it would give him an electric shock. It didn’t, of course. It just felt like skin and muscle and thin hairs.

Andrew rolled his eyes. “You can do more than poke it,” he said, “It’s an arm, not a lab experiment.”

Aaron thought up another snarky comment but swallowed it down. He placed a few more fingers over the skin, then when Andrew continued to not shove or pull away, he set a palm down. Aaron could feel a small amount of body heat gather after a moment. It was scorching out, but the air conditioning kept Andrew’s arm cool. Andrew kept still, and Aaron looked away from his brother’s face with that same tranquil caution that he would flee with any sudden movements.

Without warning Andrew pulled his arm away and got out of the car. He walked toward the office without looking back. Aaron traced the feeling of touch over the lines of his hand. He thought of Katelyn’s hand over his as well, and considered that it didn’t always have to be a lingering feeling.

It occurred to Aaron then that, oh great, now he has to recap what just happened. He stole Andrew’s extra cookie while he had the chance.

**Author's Note:**

> Had a good time writing this. It was another story idea I would've left at the wayside if it wasn't prompted. Would have posted it earlier in the week but my cat got hospitalized. That may sound like a "my dog ate my homework" excuse but did happen, of all weeks for it to happen. But she's healthy now! :3
> 
> Comments always appreciated.


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